ZOO’S ADMISSION CHARGE IS AS HIGH AS ITS PROFILE

At $44 per adult, attraction has top gate price in nationwide survey

The San Diego Zoo’s Australian Outback exhibit opens this week, giving patrons more to see than last summer.

The price has gone up, too.

The zoo this year costs $44 for adults and $34 for children under 13, after a series of annual increases. Since 2009, the cost of admission has gone up 26 percent for grown-ups and 31 percent for children.

“Increases in our admission prices reflect our efforts to stay current in a changing marketplace while also supporting our need to expand efforts to educate children and conserve species,” spokeswoman Christina Simmons said.

The one-day cost is largely aimed at out-of-town tourists, said Ted Molter, the zoo’s director of marketing.

“We actually look at two different audiences,” Molter said. “For the audience that lives here in San Diego we have a very popular membership program. In fact, there are more than 280,000 households in Southern California that are part of our membership. It’s the largest membership of its kind, representing almost a half-million people.”

The San Diego Zoo is widely regarded as one of the best in the nation. The travel website TripAdvisor last year named San Diego No. 6, ranking up there with zoos in Omaha, Neb.; St. Louis; and Memphis, Tenn. Parents magazine listed San Diego’s zoo as No. 8.

“We have been called world famous,” Molter said. “It’s a brand attribute that we’ve worked hard to earn and maintain every day. It’s not that we actually go to the market with that ourselves, it’s one that we’re told and reminded about again and again, so clearly we’re doing the right things.”

Admission for a family of four is $166, including tickets for two adults and two children ages 8 and 13.

That gate price includes a bus tour and sky ride, which used to be optional but were built into a higher minimum admission cost in 2009. That year, when families had an option, the admission cost was $102 without the bus and sky ride or $131 with it.

The U-T surveyed prices at more than 40 public or nonprofit zoological institutions in the nation and found San Diego’s gate price to be the highest.

No. 2 was the Tampa Zoo, which topped the Parents magazine ranking. Its cost for a family of four for one day is $94.80.

San Diego’s annual membership cost for a family of four is $206. That cost, second only to Zoo Miami in the U-T survey, also includes admission to North County’s Safari Park.

The San Diego Zoo is No. 1 in the nation for attendance, reporting 3.4 million a year to the Association of Zoos & Aquariums. According to that same data, reported for 2010, San Diego is fifth on the list for number of animals, with 4,500.

Many zoo-goers say that the San Diego Zoo is the best in the world and worth every penny.

“We saw the pandas; it was my Mother’s Day treat,” said Joan Brown, who was visiting the zoo with her grandchildren and other family members. “You know, I live in Orange County, where Disneyland is, and it costs you way more than the cost here. I’d rather put my money here because I know it’s going to help support the animals.”